PRISONER EXPRESS

Lives, families, relationships, and friendships have been lost by taking a chance. Risk is a simple definition of Gambling. Betting money on a game or contest is America's most addictive form of gambling. The deadliest and oldest contributory factors associated with Gambling are decisions by governmental agencies that cause massive destruction of human life. The biblical description of Jesus entering the temple disrupting gambling by the money-changers did little to prevent modern man from investing in lucrative gambling ventures.

At present, the Iraq war started as a campaign to promote democracy; a goodwill humanitarian mission to eliminate a brutal dictatorship. America's leaders (governmental and military) gambled, relying on our technology and military capabilities. Three years later this decision has cost tremendous expense, loss of lives amid numerous scandals erasing anticipated prescience.

Last year's disastrous hurricanes Katrina and Rita proved to be another gamble by mankind. Whether it be the Corp's faulty construction or local government's failure to provide adequate evacuation, the fact still remains that a gamble caused lost of human life and massive property destruction.

U.S. supreme Court Justice William D. Douglas (1898-1980) gambled and became known as a champion of civil liberties and civil rights. His thirty-six years tenure resulted in praise and criticism for his judicial decisions. At the 1975 Church Committee hearings, Senator Frank Church, Chairman of the Committee, appointed to investigate intelligence abuses made the following statements about the National Security Agency (NSA): "The secret agency's capabilities were so great the cloud could be turned on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left, such is the capability to monitor everything, telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn't matter. There would be no place to hide."

In December 2005, the Washington Post reported, President Bush's deputies threatened to boycott the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal, if former President Clinton spoke. All industrialized nations except the United States and Australia were near an agreement to embark on a new round of formal talks aimed at setting new mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions after 2012 when the Kyoto Protocol expires. The Kyoto participants agreed they can't have an effective global regime without the U.S. They are betting that the U.S. will change its position once President Bush leaves office.

Economist Jeffrey Sachs has been improving the economy in many countries by stabilizing inflation. He was chosen by the United Nations to promote their Millennium Development Goals, to raise annual aid to 0.7% of GNP of the donor countries in order to halve poverty by 2015. Sachs's book "The End of Poverty" gives a comprehensive approach, which he labels 'clinical economics' to eliminate poverty. He got the idea from his wife who is a pediatrician.

Many experts, professionals and lawmakers have gambled on decisions to improve humanity. But again, there are decisions protected by man-made mandates beyond our control to create expedite challenge. Many words seem harmless in meaning. Man is convinced he can achieve the ultimate challenge.

During the Kennedy administration, the Cuban Missile Crises was resolved without a single life lost. His father Joseph Kennedy was opposed to government promoting big business.

Iran nuclear build up may become another gamble in which government may use military power to solve. Iran's senior nuclear negotiator warned the U.S. not to push the Unite Nations Security Council to take strong action against Iran for unresolved questions about its nuclear program. Mr. Veedi is also quoted as saying, "The United States may have the power to cause harm and pain, but it is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if the United State wants to pursue that path, let the ball roll."

We could have gambled on fusion energy that was discovered in 1973 by an undergraduate student and colleagues during an experiment at Princeton University. Fusion energy is cheaper to produce, has the same capabilities as nuclear energy' with one exception, it produces no nasty materials that can be used to make bombs. Last year the US and two other industrialized countries agreed to build the world's first and largest fusion reactor in France.

So much has been won and lost because of a gamble. Gambling for the right reasons usually has positive results. When we make an individual choice to gamble and lose, we have o one to blame but ourselves. Many of us amass great wealth and riches by gambling at the expense of others (the poor and underprivileged). Why not gamble on stem cell research? A logical explanation, maybe our government is afraid a more superior race would be created. Whatever the reason, it's scientifically promising as to the lives that can be saved. A simple word, gambling can be used many different ways that could ultimately lean to man-made destruction.

On Saturday, June 10, 2006, CNN headline news reported an 84 years old woman graduating from Harvard University. Nine years of Gambling paid off.

I am appealing to corrections/prison administrators and the public to take a gamble, maybe your attitudes will change the way you feel about crime and punishment; log on to CNN and click Larry King Live. Larry had one of the rarest interviews inside one of the nation's most notorious prisons- San Quentin. Larry conducted dialogue with five prisoners, who were serving life sentences for robbery and murder. One prisoner Mr. Lonnie Morris made a striking statement concerning the misleading concept portrayed to the public about what goes on inside our prisons, "The public is not served right by always seeing the negative actions that go on inside of prisons."

I am curious, after seeing this interview, how many of you would have taken a gamble and freed/spared the life of Stanley "Tookie" Williams. To voice your answer email alt-lib@cornell.edu